Exerted efforts by Netanya's Degel HaTorah chairman, Rabbi
Moshe Lachover, and Deputy Mayor Atty. Mendy Weiss helped
block an attempt by Shinui to open Netanya's municipal
Heichal HaTarbut (cultural center) on Shabbos.
In Netanya, Shinui is not a member of the city council
coalition. Recently a proposal was placed on the city council
agenda to open the city's Heichal HaTarbut on Shabbos.
Opening the hall, which is located in the downtown area,
would turn it into a focal point for Shabbos desecration.
Shinui's motion was not accepted and as a result its city
council member petitioned in court.
Opening places of leisure on Shabbos is a particularly
sensitive subject in Netanya, where the opening of the movie
theaters at HaSharon shopping mall served as a landmark case.
After this precedent similar businesses opened around the
country and as a result chareidim stopped patronizing the
mall.
The Shinui petition asked the court to instruct the City of
Netanya to open Heichal HaTarbut on Shabbos, like the
HaSharon movie theaters and other establishments in the city.
When Lachover and Weiss were enlisted to write a response in
the name of the City of Netanya they claimed operating the
public facility on Shabbos would change the city's status quo
for the worse and cannot be compared to the movie theaters,
which are a private enterprise. They also appended
declarations by Heichal HaTarbut workers who did not want to
work on Shabbos.
The respondents also claimed the City Council should be
judging the matter rather than the court. The court
concurred, determining the matter should be referred back to
the City Council. Following the decision Rabbi Lachover was
lauded for his successful efforts to thwart the opening of
what could have become a hotspot for large-scale Shabbos
desecration in the city.
